The Ultimate Defense
by SasuNaru123
Summary: Konoha's top shinobi are sent to Hogwarts. Trouble ensues. One sided SasuNaru and NejiNaru for now.
1. Protection

The Ultimate Defense  
  
I do not own neither HP or Naruto.  
  
"In the country of Japan, there is a village hidden from city life. A village that is so secret, that not even the best wizards could find. That village is called Konohakagure, the Hidden Village of the Leaf."  
  
"In this said village, children at very young ages are trained to kill, to become shinobi, a tool for the village. However, in this special village, unlike the other hidden villages, shinobi treated each other like family, they were raised to care; to actually have a heart and not kill mercilessly," Professor McGonagall read from the book.  
  
Professor Dumbledore had asked for her at dinner and when she arrived, he showed her the book and told her to read it. Knowing nothing better to do, she did.  
  
"What a load of rubbish!" She exclaimed, "Children raised to kill! I would say..."  
  
Professor Dumbledore cut her off, "It is their tradition, my dear, and we have no right to speak of them in this way."  
  
"Of...of course we shouldn't, Albus, but do you really believe such a village exists?" She asked.  
  
"I do, Minerva. In fact, I've asked five of these shinobi to come here, to London," Dumbledore said, stroking Fawkes who was perched on his shoulder,  
  
"They will assist the Order and protect Harry while he is in school."  
  
McGonagall sputtered, "Can we trust these people? For all we know, they may be working for him."  
  
"I trust them with my life. Their leader, the Hokage, is a dear friend of mine who had saved my life more than once," Dumbledore countered.  
  
"Okay Albus, I'll trust your judgment, just give me their names and addresses," McGonagall said, giving in to their argument.  
  
"Send 4 6th year letters to Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, Nara Shikamaru and Hyuuga Neji and a letter to Hatake Kakashi inviting him for a job as our new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Give me the letters after you're done instead of sending them. I'll do that myself."  
  
"Sure, Professor," Professor McGonagall said as she exited the room.  
  
Moments later, she returned with 5 pieces of parchment in one hand and 5 yellowish envelopes in the other, "Here professor, I've written down all the names already."  
  
She dropped the items in her hands onto his desk before she left with a curt 'good night'. Returning the good night, Dumbledore took out his wand and started writing down their letters. To the students he wrote:  
  
HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
Of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY  
  
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)  
  
Dear Mr.,  
  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.  
  
Term begins on September 1 but I sent a portkey with Hatake-san's letter that is scheduled to work at exactly 3:30. You will arrive at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London and the people there will help you with whatever needs that have not been done. Do not be startled by what you see there. In addition, please do not show off your 'magic' to the other students before you arrive at Hogwarts, unless need be. Yours Sincerely,  
  
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster

Satisfied with the four letters, he went on to write the letter for Hatake Kakashi:

HOGWARTS SCHOOL  
of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY  
  
Headmaster: ALBUS DUMBLEDORE  
(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,  
Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. Of Wizards)  
  
Dear Mr.Hatake,  
  
We are pleased to inform you that you have been appointed as the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher for the year. Tsunade-san probably told you this before so I will not describe everything again. It is partial that you do not let leak any secrets. You probably know this already but I am just making sure.  
  
Term begins on September 1 but I sent a portkey within your letter that is scheduled to work at exactly 3:30. To operate a portkey, all you have to do is touch it at the exact time along with everyone else. If you wish to bring anything, just touch it with your other hand. You will arrive at Number 12, Grimmauld Place, London and the people there will help you with whatever needs that have not been done. Do not be startled by what you see there. In addition, please do not show off your 'magic' to the other students before you arrive at Hogwarts, unless need be. Yours Sincerely,  
  
Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster  
  
Finally finished with the letters, he tied them to Fawkes' leg before it flew off into the night sky. Dumbledore tiredly rubbed at his eyes before blowing out the lights and going to bed.  
  
In another part of the world, it was 3 o'clock in the afternoon while it was midnight in London. The summer day was unbearable and many stayed inside or swam in a body of water.  
  
However, five people where stuck in one hot stuffy room, awaiting the arrival of their Hokage. Minutes later, she burst in through the door.  
  
"Everyone is here I presume," Tsunade asked. When she received five voices of agreement, she sat down before leaning forward with her head resting on her intertwined fingers.  
  
"I have called you five here because of your skill as a shinobi. All of you are the only ones who can accomplish this mission. Kakashi—you are an ANBU and high classed jounin for many years and the rest of you have risen to ANBU status in less than 4 years since you graduated. I've also called you because I trust the five of you the most. Your mission is to protect a boy. However, before we get to that, have all of you heard about wizards?"  
  
Everyone nodded. "Good, good, now tell me what you know about them, even if it is only a sentence."  
  
They all looked at each other before deciding to start from the left (of Tsunade). That meant that Neji had to start, "Wizards and witches are names given to the people that have some chakra but not enough to perform a strong jutsu. Instead of training to make more chakra, they use a stick; a wand; to channel their chakra. They call this magic. The more a wizard or witch performs 'magic', the stronger their chakra will become and the harder the 'spells' they can perform."  
  
Sasuke, who was next to Neji, took it from there, "The wizards have a form of government called the Ministry of Magic, which is made up of many witches and wizards. Cornelius Fudge is the current Minister in England. There are many different ministries around the world, there is even one here in Japan."  
  
"The wizards are foolhardy and think they are better than muggles, the term they use for normal, chakra-less people. They will not use the inventions made by the muggles and live nearly like us with no cars or the like. We don't use electronics and such to save the environment, they don't use them because they depend on only magic to do everything," Shikamaru drawled from his position on the couch.  
  
"A man named Lord Voldemort came to power at some time I can't remember," Kakashi stated, head still buried inside his book, "He, like Orochimaru, had an interest in power and snakes. He tried to rid the world of muggles and mudbloods; witches and wizards with no 'magical' parents. He succeeded in killing many, causing fear among the people before a little boy, only a few months old, managed to stop him. He wasn't killed but he lost all of his powers, which level could've matched an ANBU's."  
  
"Aaaww, they said everything that I know about magic! That's not fair!" Naruto pouted. He thought for a few seconds before adding, "Oh yeah, and only a handful of people know about us. The others who have heard of us believe its bullshit. There's also a book about shinobi, but they only published one copy of it."  
  
"Is that all? Good, I don't need to describe magic to you now. Okay, Voldemort has risen to power again and a wizard hired us to protect the boy who stopped him in the first place. The boy's name is Harry Potter, and the wizard is an old friend of mine named Albus Dumbledore."  
  
"There's a school in London for wizards and witches, which he is the headmaster of. Harry also attends this school. He has a knack for trouble and always ends up in a situation concerning Voldemort. He has always managed to get out of them safely with the help of others, but he may not be so lucky this year. Albus has hired you five to guard Harry while he is in school. There is also a group of people called the Order of the Phoenix that consists of witches and wizards that also protect Harry and rebel against Lord Voldemort."  
  
"However, they cannot protect Harry in school because they have all graduated but you can. The four of you will be students there and Kakashi will be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher. Keep an eye on him and watch out for anyone who looks, smells or acts like a snake. Voldemort has many followers named Death Eaters and they will not hesitate to satisfy their leader."  
  
"Remember, be like ninja and blend with the background. Do not draw attention to yourselves. And don't perform any jutsus; direct your chakra through a wand. It will be provided to you later on. Now all we have to do is wait for the phoenix to come. It will have letters that invite you into Hogwarts, that's the name of the school. And don't ask me why they would name a school Hogwarts and why they use phoenixes to send letters," Tsunade announced. Everyone nodded before settling in comfortable positions to wait for the bird.  
  
Sasuke leapt onto the table and lied there. He wore a black muscle shirt and beige khakis along with black ninja sandals. His blue-ish black hair was shoulder length and tied with a leather strap. As everyone predicted, he became a genius like his brother and was just as handsome with dark onyx eyes and feminine features.  
  
He and Naruto had searched for Itachi and killed him two years ago. They had already killed Orochimaru after Naruto convinced Sasuke to come back to Konoha. Since then, he has become protective of the blonde and harbors feelings for him; the only problem is that Naruto is the only one who can't tell.  
  
Neji also leapt onto the table, but instead of lying on it, he sat at the opposite end of the table, leaning back on the wall behind him. He wore a loose white muscle shirt and black shorts along with black ninja sandals. He still had the same hairstyle but his forehead protector wasn't on his head anymore.  
  
Ever since, the Chuunin Exam and his battle with Naruto, the relationship between the Main and Branch Houses got better. Later on, the difference between them disappeared, the Branch Seal along with it. Therefore, he didn't have to hide the seal anymore. He too had become even more handsome and powerful and had the same feelings as Sasuke for Naruto. They were self- proclaimed rivals for his heart.  
  
Talking about Naruto, he was as clueless as ever. Although he had matured, he still was a dobe when it came to love. As he grew up, he looked more and more like the Yondaime before Tsunade finally announced that Naruto was really his son. Since then, the villagers' attitude towards him changed. With his good looks and skill as a shinobi, he becomes even more popular than Neji and Sasuke with the girls and a lot of the boys.  
  
He wore a leather camouflage muscle shirt with buckles (think Yugi); black, loose fitting shorts and black ninja sandals. His blonde hair was still spiky but it tilted more to the back now that it was longer. His bangs always fell into his eyes, for he didn't put his forehead protector on his forehead anymore.  
  
However, although he was clueless when it came to others loving him, he was also a perverted idiot (with Jiraiya and Kakashi as teachers, who wouldn't). The only difference is that he is only perverted to his friends and that he is bi, whilst Jiraiya is straight and Kakashi is gay. He had also grown a lot since he was a genin but he was still shorter than everyone else. He was 5'5 while the others were around 6.  
  
Finding no comfortable position in his chair, he leapt onto the table and lied down with his head on Neji's lap and most of his body on Sasuke's. Both boys blushed light pink before forcing it back down. They did it quickly but not quickly enough to escape Naruto's eye. Smiling widely, he wiggled around even more, seemingly trying to find a more comfortable position on them.  
  
Kakashi, who was watching them behind his book, chuckled softly before continuing to read Come Come Paradise. He still had spiky silver hair that defied gravity and his black facemask. However, he had a rolled up black bandana over his right eye instead of his hatai-ite. His outfit is the same as it was 4 years ago, except he had a shiny, silver ring on his left ring finger. He had proposed to Iruka 2 years ago and they were now happily married.  
  
On the couch lay Shikamaru, snoring soundly, the only sound amongst the group. He still had his pineapple 'do' and was even lazier than ever, if that was possible. However, he had also grown more handsome (like everyone else) and smarter through the years. He wore a fishnet shirt under a jounin flak vest (even though he is an ANBU) and long black pants with black sandals.  
  
All of them had a tattoo on their left bicep (like Kakashi's) and their hatai-ite wrapped around their right one; meaning that they were the Hokage's personal guards and the most important ANBU in the village.  
  
15 minutes later, the phoenix flew through the window and landed on Tsunade's desk. She untied the letters on its leg and gave it a treat from inside her desk, which the phoenix smartly refused.  
  
It took flight; wings spread like the flaming sun and soared out the window before Tsunade gave out the letters to their respectful owners.  
  
She handed Kakashi a package that he quickly opened. He looked confusedly at the beat-up brown boot that he found inside before reading his letter. There was a moment of silence as they all read their letters, Tsunade peeking over Kakashi's shoulder.  
  
"...I guess this is the portkey..." Kakashi said as he held up the old boot; sweat dropping along with everyone else.  
  
"Yeah, it has to be......Wizards are too weird to understand. Anyways it's 3:25 now. Go get your bags and get hear in 5 minutes..." Tsunade ordered.  
  
They were gone before she was done talking. Three minutes later, they all came back, duffel bags in hand.  
  
"Okay, so we're supposed to touch it at exactly 3:30.... Why don't we just hold it and wait for the magic to happen," Naruto stated.  
  
Everyone nodded and the five of them grabbed the boot, waiting................and feeling stupid. Nothing was happening so far.  
  
"Okay, 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2..."  
  
Everything started spinning around and around, colors mixing with each other before coming to an abrupt stop. Only their ninja skills stopped them from having a nice meeting with the floor.  
  
Sasuke POV  
  
All the spinning came to a stop and I nearly feel down. I saw several unfamiliar faces in front of us and I grabbed a kunai from my holster before jumping in front of Naruto. Neji stood next to me in the same fashion while the others just stood there, alert but doing nothing.  
  
"Cool knives! Where'd you get th..." A pair of twins from my right shouted. They both had flaming red hair and many freckles all over their faces. However, a plump woman with the same hair color and freckles interrupted them, "Oh be quiet you two."  
  
Then she turned to us and said, "We mean you no harm, you must be the people Dumbledore sent. Please, can you put done your weapons and follow us."  
  
Kakashi spoke up, "They will lower their weapons if you lower your wands."  
  
I finally noticed that a man with long gray hair, another with shaggily ginger hair, and a girl with spiky violet hair all had their wands pointed at us.  
  
"Moody, Mundungus, Tonks—put down your wands," she warned. They glanced at her before reluctantly bringing down their arms. I followed suit and stood up straight.  
  
"Okay, now that this is sorted out, why don't we go into the kitchen," she suggested.  
  
"Okay!" Naruto shouted before running to her side before I could catch him, "Hiya! My name is Uzumaki Naruto but you can call me Naruto! Is it true that you're a witch?" His eyes were wide and filled with curiosity, all suspicions gone.  
  
The lady laughed out loud, "My, my, aren't you cute, Naruto. My name is Molly Weasley, and yes, I am a witch. What would you like to eat?"  
  
Naruto's cornflower blue eyes were brighter than ever at the mention of food, "Do you have ramen?" he asked shyly. When she said yes, he did a little dance and walked even faster than before.  
  
Some of the people around him chuckled while I slapped myself in the forehead, Naruto would trust just about anyone if they offer him ramen.  
  
The four of us followed the strangers clad in black robes while Weasley-san and Naruto led the way to, what I think, is the kitchen.  
  
We went down a flight of stairs and into the kitchen. It was scarcely less gloomy than the dark colors of the halls above. Most of the light was coming from a large fire at the far end of the room.  
  
A haze of smoke hung in the air like battle fumes, through which loomed the menacing shapes of heavy iron pots and pans. Many chairs were crammed into the room, and two tables were pushed together to form one long one.  
  
Weasley-san led us to some chairs in the back of the room and told us, "All of you sit down and I'll fix some ramen for the 5 of you." We sat down while she walked over to the fire at the other side of the room.  
  
I activated my sharingan and watched as she took out her wand and said some words before several packets of ramen zoomed into her hand. In my eyes, the words she said activated a small stream of chakra in her arm that went into her wand.  
  
Then it came out and twisted a little before turning into a hand and grabbing the ramen. It flew back to her, ramen and all. That looked simple enough but what I don't understand is that why can't they just do it themselves, are they that lazy?  
  
Suddenly I felt a nudge and turned my attention back to the others.  
  
All of the people who were in the hall before, sat in the chairs around us. A black-haired man stood on the table; he had raggedy clothes and many tattoos on his body, some of his teeth were rotten, too.  
  
"Hello, my name is Sirius Black and I'm the owner of this house. It would do you good to remember the address. We," He gestured at everyone, "are the Order of the Phoenix; a group of people who try to thwart Voldemort's plans before they start. You guys probably know this already so I'm not gonna explain everything again. It is your job to protect Harry while he is in school. We don't trust you yet and you probably don't trust us either but..."  
  
"It is not a matter of trust," Kakashi suddenly interrupted, all eyes suddenly turned on him. "We have a mission from our Hokage while you want to save the world from this guy. It doesn't matter if we trust each other as long as we get this done. Naruto trusts you so I trust you. Please continue."  
  
He, of course, was still reading his perverted book. Next to me, the violet-haired girl leaned over to Naruto, "Is he always like that?"  
  
"Yeah, you'll get used to it," Naruto whispered back.  
  
"Why does he wear that face mask?"  
  
"Who knows, I've never seen him without it."  
  
"Wanna try to get it off."  
  
"I've been trying since I was twelve."  
  
"Oh, how old are you now?"  
  
"Sixteen, how old are you."  
  
"Really, you're 16!? I thought you were 13."  
  
"...Thanks."  
  
"No, I'm sorry. It's just that well...you're so short and cute, I didn't think you were that old..."  
  
"Yeah, a lot of people make the same mistake. The others are the same age as me and Kakashi is 29."  
  
"I'm 26, do you think you can get me a date with him? I bet he's really cute like you guys under the mask."  
  
"Sorry, no can do. He's married."  
  
"Oh, dammit."  
  
They both started giggling and I shook my head. Naruto can make friends with anyone. Then I diverted my attention back to Black-san.  
  
"......Why don't we all introduce ourselves before we get to bed. I'm sure everyone wants a good night's sleep. Why don't you start 'Dung."  
  
The ginger-haired man who pointed his wand at us before, stood up. He sat at Sirius' right side so I'm guessing we're going in that order.  
  
"Im Mundungus Fletcher buh y' can call meh Mundy o' 'Dung, doesn't matta."  
  
He sat down and a bald, black man stood up, "My name's Kingsley Shacklebolt, you won't see me or Mundy here much so you don't have to remember our names if yeh want."  
  
A tall man with grizzled gray hair and a large chunk missing from his nose stood up. He stared at us with a small, dark, beady eye while his other electric blue eye swiveled in every which-way, "I'm Mad-Eye Moody but you guys can call me whichever one ya want. I don't think you'll mind my eye much with you three's." He pointed at me, Neji and Kakashi.  
  
Everyone looked at us and I realized that I hadn't deactivate my sharingan yet. When I did, some of them gasped in surprise. Now that my eyes were normal, he took away the finger pointing at me and just pointed at the other two.  
  
Neji I could understand, with his white, pupil less eyes but how did he know about Kakashi's sharingan? "How do you know about his sharingan? It is cover with cloth."  
  
He chuckled before answering, "This eye of mine," he tapped the corner of his blue eye, "can see through anything."  
  
I eyed him suspiciously and turned towards Neji, I made some signals with a hand, and he nodded before activating his byakugan.  
  
"There are too many chakra holes around your eyes and they are causing your eye to swivel wildly. It is a very useful and rare case. If you let me help you, I can seal some of the chakra holes, stop the swiveling, and let you control it to go in the direction you want it to. Are you the only one who has this kind of eye?"  
  
"I don't understand the thing about chakra holes but it would be great if you can get this damn eye to work properly again, it has been bothering me like hell since Crouch used it. And I think I'm the only one with this kind of eye cause I don't see no other mad-eye's out there."  
  
"I'll fix it for you at breakfast tomorrow," Neji decided before deactivating his byakugan.  
  
"Sure," Moody-san said before sitting down. His tone wasn't as curt or tight as before so I'm guessing that he trusts us a little more after Neji's offer.  
  
Then Weasley-san came back with our ramen before standing in front of the seat next to Moody-san's. I looked at my ramen before giving it to Naruto, everyone else did the same. Naruto shouted with glee before slurping up the ramen.  
  
"Hello, you already know my name and the 4 next to me are my family. This is my husband, Arthur Weasley," A tall, thin man with balding red hair stood up and waved before sitting back down, "This is my second son Bill Weasley,"  
  
A tall man with long hair tied in a ponytail with a fang earring dangling from one ear smiled from ear to ear and shook our hands, laughing as Naruto tried to eat at the same time, "My oldest son is in Romania, and my third son...is not close with the family anymore.  
  
Oh, and these two rascals are the twins. George and Fred, say hello. And I have one more son except he's still in Hogwarts and cannot attend this meeting."  
  
The twins from before stood up and shook our hands, "Nice to meet ya. Can you show us those cool knives you had? They would be a real hit in our joke shop," They looked only about a year or two older than us and seemed very mischievous and cunning...Naruto would fit right in.  
  
They sat down and the girl next to Naruto stood up, "My name is Tonks. That's not my real name but I don't like my real name so I changed it. There's one more person who was supposed to be here but he's a werewolf and couldn't come because today is a full moon. His name is Remus Lupin and you don't have to be scared of him."  
  
Naruto finished his ramen just as she nudged him to get up while sitting back down. He jumped onto his chair and crouched down with his vulpine face before saying,  
  
"All of you know me already as Uzumaki Naruto......or is it Naruto Uzumaki? Well anyways, I can't wait to work with you and I hope you can teach me some powerful spells! -."  
  
The four of us groaned and I pulled him down from his perch, "You're too loud, dobe." He made a face at me before sitting upright.  
  
Not bothering to get up, I said two words, "Sasuke Uchiha."  
  
All of them blinked repeatedly before Neji finally introduced himself, "I am Neji Hyuuga and Mr. Ice next to me doesn't like to talk much with people he doesn't know real well so don't bother talking to him 'till about a week from now."  
  
After so many years with Naruto, he started to talk more. That happened to me, too, but like he said, only to people I trust.  
  
"I am Kakashi Hatake and the leader of this groups seeing as I'm the oldest. I will be the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher this year. And the sleeping bum next to me (Shikamaru had fallen asleep when we reached Naruto) is Shikamaru Nara. He looks like a lazy idiot but in truth, he's a genius with a very high IQ. You'll probably find him staring at the clouds or sleeping in a tree in the future."  
  
"Okay, now that everyone is done introducing ourselves, let's get some sleep. We'll introduce the kids tomorrow morning," Black-san announced as everyone got up to leave.  
  
Weasley-san, um...the female one... came up to us and told us to follow her. As we walked through the grim hallways of the house, we passed by a pair of moth-eaten curtains that was covering a large portrait. It seemed suspicious and I made up my mind to check it out tomorrow.  
  
Weasley-san led us through more hallways before ending up in front of a mahogany door that had seen better days. She opened it and let us in,  
  
"All of your stuff are already in here. I know tonight's meeting was brief but it was to just welcome you to the wizarding world, if you have more questions, we'll be glad to answer them tomorrow. I bid you a good night now."  
  
With that, she gave us a smile before shutting the door. Everyone, already tired, got ready to sleep. We were getting prepared for a long day tomorrow.

TBC.....maybe

This is something I thought of when my computer crashed and I had nothing to do. Tell me if I should continue or stop if you want. The way everything looks iz all messed up because of Flames are welcomed.


	2. Diagon Alley

THE ULTIMATE DEFENSE

Thanx every1 4 reviewing, I still can't believe I got over 50 reviews. I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint you. And I'm sry 4 taking so long, I'm not home a lot in the Summer.

BTW, this is Harry's 6th year and the only reason Sirius is alive is because I like him. (And because I hate it when ppl try to rite an angst Harry)

* * *

Chapter 2: Diagon Alley

The morning sun's rays shined through the dirty windows, bringing light to the whole room. Inside were two beds.

One bed was orange, decorated with brooms; the other was green, decorated with golden snitches and owls.

The two sides of the room were nearly identical. It looked like someone folded the room in half and duplicated everything.

The green bed sheets rustled, signaling that the person sleeping in the bed was getting up. The boy was medium height and lanky, with emerald green eyes and messy black hair.

He wore blue and white striped pajamas and blue slippers. Groggily, he walked over to the bathroom and opened the door.

After finishing his daily toiletries, he changed into an overlarge green shirt, blue jeans and black sneakers.

Picking up his glasses from the dresser, he woke up the other boy.

"Ron, c'mon, get up. The new students are coming today!" he said.

Albeit he was reluctant, the redhead, Ron, finally got up after 15 minutes with the promise of pancakes.

He came out of the bathroom minutes later, looking fresh and awake. He had changed into a striped red and black shirt and black shorts. Putting on his sandals, they both went out the door.

They walked down the hall and silence enveloped them before the redhead asked, "So why do you think the new students are going to stay with us, Harry?"

"I dunno," Harry answered.

"Maybe, they're really strong and Dumbledore sent them to protect you," Ron guessed.

"No way, why would he send people who are the same age as us?" Harry countered.

"Well, I heard that the new DADA teacher is also staying with us and he knows the new students," said Ron, leading the way down the stairs.

"The DADA teacher could be protecting me in school but definitely not the students. He probably just knows them from their old school, they're all from Japan," Harry opened the door to the kitchen and a delicious smell met them.

Inside, two girls got up from their seats and walked up to them.

One girl had frizzy brown hair and the other had long red hair. The brunette, who was the taller one, wore a pink tank top, jeans and pink flip-flops while the redhead wore a white t-shirt, baby blue shorts and white flip-flops decorated with pearls.

"Did you see the new students?!" The brunette asked.

"Well, seeing that you're blocking the way, we hadn't," Ron retorted.

"Forget him Herm, he's a git," said the redhead, punching her brother lightly in the shoulder.

"Well, anyways, I usually don't care about these things but they are _really_ cute!" Hermione exclaimed.

"Especially the blonde one!" Ginny added, giggling slightly.

The boys just looked at each other and rolled their eyes, thinking, _girls._

"C'mon, I'll introduce you," said Hermione, already dragging Harry to a table. Ginny and Ron following behind.

Remus, Sirius, George, Moody, Fred and five strangers were already at the table. Harry took a seat next to Hermione at the end of the table, Ginny and Ron sat opposite them.

The blonde sitting next to the twins introduced himself first.

"My name is Naruto, I hope we can be friends." He had large blue eyes and flawless golden skin. A black band was wrapped around his neck.

When he got up, Harry saw that he wore an overlarge black t-shirt with an orange spiral in the middle and very short shorts. Somehow, he wasn't disgusted by the fact that he seemed somehow attracted to the blonde boy.

Shaking his head to rid his mind of the thought, he shook his hand and introduced himself as Harry Potter. To his surprise and some of the others, the strangers didn't have the usual reaction to his name. Maybe they didn't know who he was in Japan.

Then a black haired boy to Naruto's left stood up. He was as beautiful as Naruto but in a more feminine, sly way. His skin was pearly white, which contrasted against his hard black eyes, blue wide-neck t-shirt and black shorts. He introduced himself as Sasuke Uchiha.

Harry didn't really like him, seeing how he seemed so much like a snake. However, the kind glance Sasuke sent Naruto eased his worries a little.

Next, a boy with long, black hair stood up, "Nice to meet you, my name is Neji Hyuuga." He wore a form-fitting, white, long-sleeved blouse that was unbuttoned at the top and tight, black leather pants. (He sounds like some rich kid from Snow Drop or Meteor Garden )

A boy, who he later found out was named Shikamaru, had spiky black hair bound in a pineapple style ponytail and lazy brown eyes. He had this bored, pissed off look that nearly made Harry laugh.

He wore a long-sleeved fishnet shirt under a green, low-cut t-shirt. He was the closest to me and I saw that he had on black shorts and weird blue sandals.

The last stranger to be introduced was a man with silver hair. A facemask covered the bottom part of his face and a black bandana covered his left eye. Harry figured that he was their new DADA teacher, Professor Kakashi Hatake.

The professor wore a black sleeveless shirt and loose black pants. If they were connected or not couldn't be determined because of the bandages that bound his stomach. A small orange book rested in his left back pocket.

Also, Harry noticed that both Sasuke and Naruto had bandages on various parts of their bodies.

All of them had several things in common; they are all very tall, around six feet or so, had a forehead protector of sorts on their upper right arm and lean muscles. Harry was very jealous considering his skinny demeanor.

Ron introduced himself just as breakfast was served. It was an unfamiliar kind of noodle that emitted a fantastic smell.

"What is this?" Ron asked.

"It's ramen..." said Sasuke, picking at a few strands. He decided to take some bread instead.

"It's good," Neji added. "But you kinda hate it later on when you eat it too much, especially if Naruto makes you buy it for him every time." To further prove his point, he pushed his bowl over to Naruto and ate some fruit.

The said boy was happily slurping his ramen, oblivious to what his friend was saying about him.

Daintily, Harry put some in his mouth; it was delicious! The others seemed to think so too when the sound of slurping became louder. Soon enough, breakfast was done and everyone was content and full, well except for four certain individuals.

"Okay kids, it's time to go to Diagon Alley. Does everyone have their lists?" Mrs.Weasley asked.

All the kids attending Hogwarts raised their list that they received yesterday. The books were about the same, if not for the year level, as the last summer except for one, _'Martial Arts for Dummies,' _the Dummies was crossed out and on top of it said, _'Wizards.'_

It was written by someone named Jiraiya, the incredible Sennin... and other stuff that said how great he was.

Harry bet he was someone just like Professor Lockhart. In another corner, Naruto and Kakashi were having a discussion.

"Eeeew, Kakashi! Why did you have to use _his_ book? I bet it's filled with perverted things!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Well, he said that he would give me the next four editions of Icha Icha Paradise _and_ a filmed version of Book 1! Anyways, this book is the only book that these kids can keep up with," Kakashi argued.

Naruto looked doubtful and opened the book. He nearly choked at what he read inside.

"What!? This book teaches you how to flip and do cartwheels and stuff! It's so easy!"

"Exactly. I bet most of the wizards in Hogwarts can barely do the maneuvers they teach in this book," Kakashi whispered.

"You gotta be joking me," said Naruto.

"Hey you two! Get here already!" Shikamaru complained.

"We will!" Naruto shouted back.

They walked over to the fire but before Naruto went to stand next to Neji, he whispered, "I'm gonna tell Iruka about your deal with ero-sensei, Kakashi."

Kakashi blushed and sent him a glare that promised instant death before diverting his attention to Mrs. Wealey who was explaining floo powder.

"All you have to do is throw some of this floo powder in this fire and say 'Diagon Alley,'" Mrs. Weasley explained, "We'll do it in pairs, okay? George and Fred, you go first."

They both grabbed a fistful of floo powder and shouted, "Diagon Alley!"

Naruto and Ginny went after them, followed by Ron and Shikamaru, Harry and Moody, Sasuke and Kakashi, and finally Mrs. Weasley and Neji.

* * *

Everyone ended up in a dark and dirty pub. Tables and benches were everywhere, rearranged in no order at all.

A bar was at the right next to a rickety, old staircase. Moody walked over to a desk near the door, where an old, humpbacked man sat. They started to talk to each other in low whispers.

He came back to the group a minute later, "Tom says that the rooms are ready and the trunks will arrive soon. There are 6 rooms and all of us will have to share once Arthur comes."

Moody showed them their rooms and everyone had their pick. Unluckily for Sasuke and Neji, who were both fighting for the same room, Naruto walked into a room that Shikamaru already occupied.

That led to the fact that they had to share the same room. It also meant that everyone else will have one heck of a time trying to sleep.

After that, everyone went back down where they found Mrs. Wealey setting down cups of ice cream. Each taking one, the kids listened to the adults explain that they would leave them alone to shop. It seemed that they had to go to a meeting in the Ministry of Magic.

They watched the adults leave before the young wizards lead the new students to an alley behind the Leaky Cauldron.

"Hey, why are we here?" Naruto asked, gesturing to the garbage cans and brick wall.

"Just watch," Fred replied. He took out his wand and tapped a few bricks. Suddenly, the _solid_ red bricks started to fold in on itself.

It continued until it finally stopped, revealing a big hole that several people could fit into.

Naruto stepped through the hole first. After everyone was through it closed back on itself, looking like any other wall in the world.

Then Naruto noticed the stream of people walking through the crowded cobble street. All of them were dressed in black robes and busy buying goods from inside the stores.

In front of one store, cauldrons of every kind shined in the sun, another had stacks upon stacks of books inside its window. There was also sweets shops and joke stores, stores filled with animals and others filled with brooms.

Naruto turned this way and that as he tried to see everything, no one in Konoha selled these things. Some of them seemed useful, too.

Someone tapped him on the shoulder; he turned around to find Harry pointing at Fred, the older boy was speaking, "We're gonna go to our shop to set up some things. Meet us at Ollivanders after you're done at Gringotts."

Waving, he and George disappeared with a loud crack.

That was weird, Naruto thought, they gathered chakra around themselves in a pattern and just disappeared, wonder if I can do that...

"Did you see that?" Naruto whispered to Sasuke.

"Yea, Tsunade is right, we'll definitely learn from these wizards, even if they _are_ weak," Sasuke answered.

"Don't think of them that way, they're nice!" Naruto protested.

"Whatever. Did you catch the pattern?" asked Sasuke.

Neji, who was listening in on their conversation, came over, "I saw it, the marks are small and hard to see but Sasuke can copy it the next time they do it."

"I guess..." said Sasuke.

"Great job protecting Harry, guys. Let's go," Shikamaru whispered as he passed by.

All three of them blushed and followed the others. They formed a subtle square (of sorts) around the wizards and joined their conversation, watching their surroundings at the same time.

"So, where are we going?" Naruto asked.

"Gringotts," Ron answered.

"What's that?" Sasuke asked.

"It's the only wizard bank in England," Hermione explained, "You can exchange muggle money for galleons, sickles or knuts."

"Whats, whats and whats?" Naruto asked, bewildered at the foreign currency.

"Seventeen sickles for a galleon and twenty-nine knuts for a sickle, you'll see what they look like soon," said Ron, "Don't need much for us cause we got most of the stuff. But you guys will have to get _everything_, hope your parents left enough money."

"...Um, do we have to pay for ourselves?" Shikamaru whispered.

"Tsunade-baba didn't say nothing and I bet she probably spent all the money on gambling if there were any," Naruto replied.

"Damn," he groaned.

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked.

"Nothing, he just wanted to know how much I had," Naruto lied.

"Oh, don't worry. If you don't have enough, you can use some of mine," said Harry, "Here we are."

They stopped in front of a snowy white building that towered over the other shops. On either sides of the bronze door stood a goblin.

They were short creatures with a clever face and long fingers and feet. They walked up the steps and the goblin bowed as they walked through.

"My hint to you is to touch nothing, the consequences are_ very_ high," said Hermione, she lead the party into a large room full of goblins sitting behind tall desks.

They were all very busy doing different kinds of things. Behind them, Naruto saw that there were a countless amount of doors leading into dark hallways.

Their group went over to the counter and found a free goblin. He was stern looking and had a crooked nose, he barely reached Naruto's head even when standing on his chair.

"Your names, please," he asked.

"Harry Potter, Hermione Granger and the Weasley's vault," Harry answered.

"And we need to exchange our money," Naruto added.

While another goblin helped the wizards get their money, the one at the counter tried to figure out what kind of money the Leaf nins had.

"This will probably equal 10 galleons, 15 sickles and 5 knuts for each of you. I don't think I've ever seen money like this," the goblin stated.

"Uh... yea, thanks. When do you think Mr. Potter will get back?" Naruto asked, worried since he couldn't find a single chakra sign beyond 10 feet of the doors.

"They'll be back soon. Please wait over there, there are more people waiting in line," said the goblin, pointing at a few benches near the entrance.

They walked over to a bench and waited.

"Do you think something happened?" Naruto asked.

"Don't worry," Shikamaru insisted, "They can take care of themselves. See, there they are right now."

He was right as the others turned their heads to the doorway Shikamaru was pointing to. The four of them walked towards them, fine and healthy despite all of Naruto's worries.

"We got enough, I think. Time to head over to Ollivander's," said Harry.

"What's that?" Neji asked.

"Best and only wand shop here," he answered.

"Right...wands," said Neji as the four of them shared a look.

* * *

I'm sorry for ending it like this, but this was wat I got up 2 b4 I found out that CHINESEDRAGONLORD freckin' stole my fic!!!!!!! He changed the story but the plot and everything are still the freckin same thing! I cannot believe him and I am so mad right now it's not even funny. If u r CHINESEDRAGONLORD, I'm going to kill u!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


	3. Rivals

The Ultimate Defense

Akki no Tama: Alright, my username in is Akki no Tama. I'm only writing some of SasuNaru123's chapters 'cause she's really busy and would probably like someone to help her out. I'm not sure, she just says she's busy and I offered to help her out! Anyways, lets see how this works, ok? Bare with us here.

I apologize ahead of time if I'm not up to your standards.

**SasuNaru123: Yea, I'm just lazy. But, really, I am busy so im not gonna rite as much. What we came up with for now, is she writes the odd chapters and I write the even ones, this might change, depending on whatever. I beta her chappies and she beta mines. Enjoy**

Disclaimer (keep 4geting): HP belongs to JKR and Naruto belongs to MK.

* * *

Chapter 3: Hogwarts 

The group entered the wand shop, the shinobi looking curiously around, subconsciously looking out for danger.

"It smells ooold in here!" Naruto whined.

Everyone laughed or giggled at that, Neji and Sasuke only smirking at the comment. Someone's voice from behind immediately shut them up.

"Children these days," Ollivanders muttered. "Alright, which one of you is it? Ah, Harry. I believe I sold you holly and phoenix feather, eleven inches, nice and supple." He didn't look at Harry while saying it, inspecting the shinobi instead.

"Yes sir, you did," Harry agreed.

"Very good. These four are here for wands, correct?"

"Yeah," Shikamaru said.

"Who's up first?"

Naruto gave Shikamaru a push and hissed in his ear, "This guy's creepy. You go first!"

The shadow user glared at him and whispered back, "Why do I have to?"

"Cause you're the smart one!"

"What does-"

"Hold out your wand arm, boy," Ollivanders ordered. He held a roll of measuring tape ready for use. "Come now, we don't have all day."

"Wand arm?"

"The hand you use to write with," Hermione explained.

Sasuke gave his comrades a look but held out his right arm. The measuring tape immediately started to move by itself, Ollivanders going to look for boxes. The Leaf shinobi went for their weapons but stopped when they realized it wasn't going to attack, just measure.

"Here, use this," the old man said when he came back, triumphantly holding out a dusty box. "Just give it a little wave."

Shikamaru did as he was ordered to but a vase with a single flower exploded from a desk. The shinobi stared at it in slight surprised.

"Cool," Naruto said.

"Nope, wrong!" the shop owner muttered and snatched the wand away.

After several more tries, it soon became apparent there wasn't going to be any improvement. Naruto fidgeted when Sasuke sighed in annoyance. Neji said, "Hurry up and pick one, dammit!"

"It's not my fault!" Shikamaru argued.

"It seems we'll have to make a custom want for you," Ollivanders said. "Come with me to the back shop."

Harry, Ron and Hermione decided to wait by the front as the four shinobi went to the back. They went into a little room where Ollivanders began to look around. He said under his breath, "What ingredients to use, what to use, what to use, what to use..."

"How about I pick them? I know myself best, after all," the shadow user said.

"Alright, we'll try it your way. What do you want? There has to be a core, the type of wood, and the size of the wand."

"For the core how about the hair of a deer, and maybe we can try the wood of a weeping willow......? And I think it should be about 8 inches or so. I'm going for short but stable. One that reacts instantly without much thought," Shikamaru commented.

"Hmm..interesting choice, very interesting, I've never made one like that..." Ollivanders pondered.

Thinking aloud, he continued, "But it is a good choice, and your name is Nara, is it not? It means deer in Japanese... Yes, I'll have it ready by tomorrow. Who will be next?"

"Me, me!" Naruto pulled off some of his hair and held them out. "Use this for the core of my wand!"

"Are you sure? That's human hair and I don't think it's has very strong magical properties," the shop keeper commented.

"Trust me, it'll work." He glanced at some of the hair and smiled a little when he saw some orange-red hairs mixed with his blond strands. "Use a banzai tree for the wood and make it around 8 and a half inches."

"Gets even more interesting with you kids," the man muttered as he took the hairs from the blonde's hand. "Now, you with the scowl."

"Use a basilisk's scales for my core and Sakura tree for the wood. 9 inches," Sasuke answered plainly.

"I never used those ingredients either," Ollivanders looked at Neji expectantly.

"Use the feathers of a sparrow chimera, it doesn't matter what wood and it should be about 8 ½ inches," Neji described.

Working madly at his table, Ollivanders held up a wand triumphantly. It was a reddish color and beautifully made. He handed it to Naruto.

"Here, yours was easy so it's already done. The rest of you, come pick up your wands tomorrow. By then I should have them done," Ollivanders concluded. He ushered them out the door, intent on finishing the other wands.

The group just shrugged.

"What next?" Neji asked, stepping along side the wizards.

"Look at the list," Sasuke answered as he took his out. "Let's get robes."

"Don't those look like dresses?" Naruto asked curiously. He twirled his new wand between his index and middle finger, causing colorful sparks to shoot out in a decorative way. He grinned when he threw it into the air and caught it like a baton.

"No they don't," Ron said. "Honestly, I would have thought you came from a muggle family!"

Naruto looked away but didn't say anything. Sasuke and Neji sent a quick glare to Ron. The red head gave a confused look.

Shikamaru gave him a look that said, "Don't ask."

They walked into 'Madame Malkin's Robes for all Occasions'. Everyone was attended by a different person. After getting their uniforms, Neji said, "It says on the list to get 'dress robes.'"

When the measurements were done and everyone held up their new clothes, Naruto was laughing uncontrollably. Sasuke rolled his eyes, knowing why the blonde was laughing while Neji just smirked. Shikamaru sighed as he looked at his own clothes.

"What's wrong?" Hermione asked.

"Th-they look l-like dre-dresses!" Naruto giggled out.

Afterwards, they got their books, and Sasuke threw a kunai into one of his books when it tried to attack him. He had to get a new one. Seeing his example, Naruto, Neji, and Shikamaru had bound theirs with anything they could find.

Deciding to rest, they went to buy some food.

Naruto looked excitedly around the pet shop, Sasuke and Neji behind him. They scanned all the possible pets, Naruto liking nearly every single one. Shikamaru looked at everything boredly, not really caring if he got a pet or not.

The blonde spotted something gold and orange in one of the cages. His eyes widened in delight as he saw what it was. It was a baby fox and it was, according to his thinking, the cutest little thing he ever saw. "I have to get it!" Naruto suddenly exclaimed as he rushed over to the kit.

Shikamaru smirked when he saw what Naruto meant.

Te baby fox had orange fur. It's ears were dipped a golden color, along with its snout, paws, and the tip of the tail. The color of the kit's eyes were amber or gold, depending on which angle you saw it at, with flecks of orange in it.

"Um…Naruto, we're only allowed to have cats, toads, or owls," Hermione explained hesitantly.

That was when Naruto held the kit up to her face. It gave a small sound that made her heart melt. The blonde gave a puppy dog look to add to the effect.

"She's not the one you should be trying to convince," Neji said in an amused way. "She doesn't make the rules."

"You're right, I'll talk to the headmaster, then," Naruto gave them all a mischievous grin.

The shinobi sighed, knowing with the look on his face, whatever he wanted he would get.

The blond held up the fox so it was facing him. He wasn't looking at its face, though. "Huh. It's a boy."

Ignoring the blond, Sasuke went to pay for the pet. However, as he reached out to give the money, another hand blocked his was. The owner smiled smugly at him.

"I'm getting it for him, Uchiha," Neji sneered.

"As if," Sasuke retorted, shoving several galleons in the shop owners face. The shop owner greedily reached out for them, but just as he was going to grab it, Neji pushed it away.

"I was here first," Neji stated.

"Says who?" Sasuke challenged.

"Me!" Neji said. Suddenly the load in their hands were gone. Both glancing up, they saw that the shop-owner had grabbed the money and was calmly counting it.

"This is enough boys, thank you," he said, rubbing his hands as he gathered the gold coins into a bulging purse.

The two geniuses were about to argue again when suddenly Naruto appeared between them, tapping them both in the butt.

"Boys should play nice don'tcha think? Why don't we go?" the blond asked.

The carefree anbu strolled out the door, followed by his beet-read comrades.

"Stupid Naruto...."

"Is there anything else?" Naruto asked, placing his fox, who he named Kit, on his head.

"Nah, I don't think so," Harry replied, turning around, "I think it's time we head back."

"Ok," Naruto stated.

"By the way, where are the twins?" Ron inquired. "Weren't they supposed to meet up with us at Ollivanders?"

"Yea......" Hermione looked around, trying to spot twin puffs of red in the crowd, "Maybe they went with Mrs. Weasley instead?"

"I hope so..." Ron murmured.

The shinobi weren't worried as they spotted their chakra in the Leaky Cauldron. However, they couldn't voice their knowledge for the wizards would get suspicious. So, deciding to play it safe, they hand-signaled for everyone to go back.

"I'm sure they're back already," Neji assured, "Why don't we go meet up with Weasley-san?"

Deciding that his idea was the best, they went back to the Leaky Cauldron where they met up with Mrs. Weasley, Ginny and the twins.

Tired, they all went back to their room.

"That was fun!" Naruto exclaimed energetically.

"How much longer do we have to wait until school starts?" Sasuke asked.

"Four days," Shikamaru answered.

They went up to their rooms.

Neji's and Sasuke's Room

"Uchiha," Neji said.

"What is it, Hyuga?"

"Naruto, stay away from him."

Sasuke turned to glare at the other boy. He was lying on his stomach upon his bed. Meanwhile, Neji sat on his while looking nonchantly at the other boy. The Uchiha intensified his glare. "Shut up."

"I know you like him, but you don't deserve him."

"What do you know? I deserve him more than you," Sasuke retorted.

"So I guess this means we're rivals for love," Neji challenged.

"Guess so, Hyuga," Sasuke said, a smirk on his face.

"May the best man win," Neji declared, standing up.

"Yes, I intend to," Sasuke sneered.

The room suddenly dropped several degrees.

Shika and Naru's Room

"I win," said Shikamaru. "I can tell without counting up the points."

"Rematch!" Naruto declared, looking at their go game.

"This is the fourth game! Each of the games last 5-10 minutes. Admit it, you suck in this game," Shikamaru said lazily as he put away the stones.

"No I don't! Besides, I'm getting better. I used to last only _three _minutes!" Naruto announced, proud at his progress.

Shikamaru sighed. He went over to his bed and crawled under the covers. "I'm going to sleep, night."

"Night Shika." The blond picked up Kit and went to bed. The sound of content purring filled the room.

The next day, the gang arrived at King's Cross Station early in the morning. Looking around, Naruto was confused when he saw that there was a platform nine and a platform ten, yet there wasn't one in-between.

"There's no platform nine and three quarters!" Naruto complained.

"Follow me," Harry stated.

"There's no platform nine and three quarters," the blond repeated.

Silently, the boy who lived took his trolley and ran straight for the pillar between the two platforms.

The shinobi's eyes widened in shock as he passed right through. After he disappeared, they inspected the wall more closely.

"This isn't half bad," Neji commented, his byakugan activated. "Genjutsu."

"Wow, I didn't even notice." Naruto put his hand through the wall and took it out. He repeated the process several times, a goofy smile on his lips.

"Stop that," Mrs. Weasley scolded. "Some of the muggles might see."

"Oh, ok." The blond took his hand out and grabbed his bag. "Let's go."

He walked through with Neji and Shikamaru walked through with Sasuke. The rest followed suit, going in through two at a time. As they were about to step onto the train, Moody quietly whispered, "Remember the mission."

"Duh," Naruto said with a grin. "We're the best of the best, you really think we have other priorities?"

"Don't worry," Kakashi said with what kind of looked like a smile but you couldn't really tell with the mask on. "I'll be there. I'll watch over these four."

Waving, they walked into the train.

While Kakashi went to sit up in the front with the teachers, the seven of them went to find an empty compartment.

They talked about random things, Naruto asking what Hogwarts was like and if there was anything exciting there. Hermione answered while Ron and Harry added things here and there. Shikamaru went to sleep, as expected, while Neji and Sasuke spent their time glaring at each other.

Then the compartment door suddenly opened. In the doorway stood three boys. The skinniest one had silvery blond hair while the other two looked as stupid as an ass.

The blonde sneered, "Well, well, well. Looks like there are a new bunch of idiots to join the original ones."

"What did you just say?" Sasuke asked in a dangerous tone as he stood up. Naruto sighed.

"I said-"

"If you have any sense in you, you wouldn't repeat that," Shikamaru mumbled as he woke up.

Draco scowled at him and sneered once again, "You're the one who doesn't have any sense. Do you know who I am?"

All the shinobi thought he was stupid considering who _they _were. Harry got up and calmly said, "Get out, Malfoy."

"Why should I?"

"You would think he has a crush on you, Harry, from the way he's acting," Naruto snickered at the looks they had from his comment. His other comment had them blushing crimson. "But I'd be flattered if I was you. He's a cute one."

Sasuke and Neji sent Draco angry glares. The Slytherin, baffled and unsure how to take this from the attractive shinobi, stood there in shock.

Naruto burst out laughing at all of their incredulous looks. "Jeez, are you guys taking this seriously? Hey, are we almost there yet? This train ride is boring."

Hermione was the first to recover from the sudden change of subject. "Um, we'll be there in..." She checked her watch. "Twenty minutes."

"Shouldn't we change?" Shikamaru asked in a bored tone. "Hermione can change first, then us men can."

Naruto got up and started to push the Slytherins out of the compartment. "Can't let a lady change in front of guys!" he laughed good naturally. The confused Malfoy allowed himself to be pushed out the door.

Sasuke, Neji, Shikamaru, and the male Griffindors followed silently.

Minutes later, Naruto doubled back for his pet. "Come on, Kit! You're a guy too!"

"Firs' year! Firs' years!" Hagrid called out. "An' t'e transfer students!"

"Ok!" Naruto yelled out excitedly. "We're here! "

The shinobi and first years followed the half giant to the boats. They went into a boat in groups of fours. As they first laid their eyes on the castle known as Hogwarts, they gazed in awe. Neji even gave an impressed whistle.

Naruto leaned on one side of the boat to get a better view and accidently fell into the lake.

"Naruto!" the Uchiha and Hyuga yelled out in surprise.

The blond's head emerged from the waters as he gasped for breath. "Oops."

Shikamaru sighed as he muttered, "Idiot."

"Hey! It was an accident!" Naruto rebuked but a split second later he broke out into a grin. He gave a small laugh as he began to follow the boats with backstrokes, gaining attention from some of the other students. "Meet you there."

"Hey, ge' back in t'e boat!" Hagrid called out as he noticed the blond in the water.

"But if I do that, it'll tip the boat over and send my friends into the water too!" Naruto objected with an amused grin. "Besides, I don't mind!"

And so, they all arrived on the shore. Naruto dripping wet but with a smile. He sheepishly laughed and scratched the back of his head from the other students' looks, including his own comrades.

"First years and transfer students, follow me," Professor McGonagall said as she appeared from behind the doors. Her eyes lingered a second on Naruto but she ignored it. She turned her back and began to walk, everyone following her.

As they reached twin oak doors, she turned around and said to them, "Welcome to Hogwarts. The start of term banquet will begin shortly but first you will be sorted into houses. I suggest you smarten yourselves up before then." She gave a pointed stared towards Naruto who gave another sheepish laugh.

She disappeared behind the doors and left them to themselves.

The blonde took a fist full of his robes and twisted them to get some of the water out.

"You'll give a real good impression now," Shikamaru said sarcastically with an amused grin.

The other gave a mock glare. Neji chuckled as Sasuke smirked.

"How were we supposed to be sorted again?" Naruto asked as he vainly tried to dry himself.

"Some hat or something," Neji answered. "Think we'll have to pull a rabbit out of it?"

Some of the nearby first years began to laugh at his joke.

The oak doors opened and the professor reappeared. "Follow me."

Everyone did and she explained what they were supposed to do. She called their names in alphabetical order but didn't call any of the transfer students. After a while, only the shinobi stood there with the whole school staring at them, many staring at the blond who grinned in response. Some comments were heard.

"Wow! They're cute!"

"That blond is totally hot!"

"I'm better looking then them!"

"No way!"

"That dark eyed and dark haired guy is so cool looking!"

"Which one, there are two!"

"That guy who has no pupils, don't you think he looks exotic?"

"I still prefer the blond myself."

"Students," the headmaster announced over the murmurs, instantly silencing them. "This year we have four transfer students from Japan. They'll be advanced to the 6th year instead of the 1st. I hope everyone will treat them with respect. That is all."

Nodding to Professor McGonagall, Dumbledore sat back down.

Looking around, she began in a loud clear voice, "Hyuga, Neji."

The pupil-less eyed boy walked over gracefully and put on the dirty hat.

_Hard working, ambitious, a genius, courageous, only loyal to those who are loyal to you. _

_Gryffindor. _

**Why that house?**

_You should know._

"Gryffindor!"

He got up and ignored the cheers and clapping. The girls mainly putting the effort. He sat in front of Hermione.

"Nara, Shikamaru," McGonagall said.

The lazy looking boy stepped up and put the hat on his head.

_A rather lazy one, not Hufflepuff. Not too ambitious either, plenty of courage and intelligence._

**Put me in the same house as Harry Potter. It'll make the mission easier.**

_Is that all that matters?_

**I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the mission, sigh.**

_So be it._

"Gryffindor!"

The table cheered loudly, thanks to the female population. The Nara boy stood up with a sigh and walked slowly to his table, sitting across from Harry and next to the Hyuga.

"Uchiha, Sasuke."

The boy did the same as Neji and put on the ragged hat.

_Another genius. Ambitious for power. Couragious but not foolishly so. Not very loyal to anyone except for a blond and some of your friends._

**Shut up and put me in Gryffindor.**

_Why should I do that?_

The Uchiha imagined a hat burning from one of his fire jutsu.

_I see, _the hat said. _Though you would do much better in Slytherin _

"Gryffindor!"

Tuning out the cheers, which were exceptionally loud, he sat down next to Shikamaru, away from the white-eyed Hyuuga.

"Uzumaki, Naruto."

The still wet blond squeezed some water out of his hair before he proudly walked up to the stool and put on the hat, a small smile playing on his lips.

_Another shinobi, I see. Now what house should I put you in? Trusting and hard working. Good for Hufflepuff. Intelligent, to a certain extent, and creative. Not bad for Ravenclaw. Ambitous and self sacrificing for your goals, another good house to put you in. Brave of heart and daring, this is indeed complicated. You're not too bad in any of the houses. But I suppose to make your mission easier you would want to go to the house were all of your comrades are in._

**Yep! So you're going to put me in there?**

_Rather odd all of you go there but it can't be helped._

"Gryffindor!"

**Thanks!**

He took off the hat and placed it on the stool. Hopping off, he quickly walked to his table, where many of the girls and some guys were laughing happily while the other girls of the other houses sighed in disappointment.

He sat next to Ron and grinned. "That was interesting."

The soting done, Dumbledore stood up and announced, "As you can see, we have _another _new professor for the Defense against the Dark Arts class. Students, please meet Professor Kakashi Hatake, also from Japan." The headmaster sat down.

Unfortunately, the jounin wasn't listening as he read his porn novel. He laughed at a certain part until he noticed everyone staring at him. "What?"

"Make a damn speech!" Naruto hollered from his seat, embarrassed for his former jounin instructor.

"Oh," the man said. He smiled happily, at least it looked like it, and stood up. "My name is Kakashi Hatake, Professor Hatake to you. I'm the kind of person who doesn't feel like talking about his likes and dislikes. My dream for the future is none of your business, but anyway, I have lots of hobbies," That made everyone stare at him in disbelief. "Oh, and I'm married." He sat down and began to read again.

Naruto sighed at that but didn't say anything. Neji snorted. Shikamaru had fallen asleep. Sasuke had down right ignored the whole thing.

With that, the food appeared.

"They have ramen!" Naruto exclaimed happily. He grabbed a bowl and gleefully slurped up the noodles.

Sasuke ate a rice ball in silence while Neji tried some of the western food. Waking up at the smell of food, Shikamaru took some sushi for himself. Some of the wizards or witches experimentally tried the Japanese food, all with different responses.

After the main course came dessert. The sharingan user ate some jam donuts and the hyuuga branch family member got vanilla ice cream. The shadow user only took a bite of chocolate before he decided desserts weren't his thing. Unhappy with his choice, Naruto decided to steal from his comrades, both to their dismay and happiness.

Bored, Shikamaru turned to listen to Ron who was talking as fast as he can, all the while shoving food down his mouth.

"In our first year of Hogwarts, the DADA teacher was really working for you-know-who, same with our fourth year professor."

"In our second year it was some git who was full of himself! I couldn't stand him!"

"Our third year was the best. He actually taught us something--you know Lupin, yea, it was him. But he turned out to be a werewolf so he had to quit."

"And our fifth was absolutely hell! She was a bitch!"

"Ron!" Hermione protested, astounded at his language.

"She was!" Ron retorted.

"I gotta agree," Harry added, looking up from his pie.

"Couldn't stand her and she favored the Slytherins," Ron continued.

"Yeah, you could just tell they're all going to be dark wizards," Seamus exclaimed out of nowhere.

"Why?"

That cut the conversation and everyone turned to look at the person who spoke. Naruto just grinned at the attention.

Then Ron replied, "Well, all of them do. So far, all of the dark wizards are from Slytherin and the house is made up of gits."

"Some of the dark wizards are from other houses too, Ron," Hermione said with a frown. "And not_ all _of them are gits."

"Have you actually got to know one of them?" Neji asked. He didn't like all these rumors.

"Why would we? You met Malfoy. You saw how _he _was like," Ron protested.

"That's only one person," Sasuke retorted.

"Prejudice." Shikamaru took a bite on his chocolate frog.

There was a shocked silence and the wizards looked thoughtful about their claims. Naruto nodded once before he got some jell-o.

The silence was cut short as Dumbledore announced the end of the feast.

Taking their cue, Ron and Hermione went to direct the new first years to their dormitories. Walking up the moving staircases, Harry gave the shinobi tips on moving around.

Half listening, they looked around, inspecting the moving pictures. However, once they got close to one, all the female portraits would try to crowd into it.

"Man, it hurts to look so good," Naruto sighed. Winking at a group of girls in front of him.

"Then why are you winking?" Sasuke retorted, glaring at the girls.

"Because it's fun," Naruto commented.

"Whatever."

Grinning, Naruto bounded up the stairs, the others behind him.

"Ok, the password is hagane no hikari, you need it to get into the dormitories," Hermione announced.

"Yea, you morons. Don't forget or you get stuck out here!" Ron exclaimed.

The portrait of the fat lady swung open and the Gryffindors stormed in. As the shinobi passed by, Hermione whispered, "Your rooms are on the top-most floor. Holler if you need anything."

Nodding, they trudged up the stairs. As the number of people decreased each flight they took, everyone except for Shikamaru made an all out sprint to the top.

"Last one has to hold my stuff!" Naruto yelled, already out of sight.

"How bothersome."

* * *

So, how was it? Plz credit Akki no Tama if u liked it. MERRY X-MAS!!!!! This was supposed to be done b4 x-mas but now we changed it so it's our present 2 whoeva reads this fic. XD Oh wait, and Happy Kwanza and Hannukah and a Happy New Year. 


	4. Trouble

The Ultimate Defense

Disclaimer: My chappie. Not my Naruto or Harry Potter

SN123: I finally updated! Yay! I've been realli busy w/ skewl and everything so I can't update quickly, just bear w/ me plz. But I'm realli gettin into this story whenever I rite, lol. I tried 2 rite this quickly but it' not workin' unless I shorten the length of each chappie but I like how long each chappie is so it ain't gonna work. Hope u enjoy.

And Happy Very Belated Chinese New Year and Valentine's Day. ( When I began ritin' this chappie, it was tat time ;;;) And now itz nearly St. Patrick's Day. So Happy St. Patti's Day! Happy Good Friday and Easter. Spring break 4 us. We get it early so I got 2 upd8.-

* * *

Chapter 4: Trouble

The next morning, Shikamaru woke up to find that everyone had already left. Groaning in annoyance, he entered the bathroom, spending a good half hour inside before finally coming out, the steam from the shower following his wake. Only in a towel, he searched for some clothes.

Opening his suitcase, he decided on a form-fitting, short-sleeved fishnet and baggy black pants with green stitching down the sides.

Looking in the mirror, he decided to leave his hair down. Combing out the knots, he found a hat and crammed it on, making his hair surround his face. Then he grabbed his Hogwart robes and went out the door.

Looking at his watch, he saw that it was still early. His stomach started growling, clutching it, speeded up and tried to find the kitchen, only to bump into Harry.

"Mornin' Shikamaru," Harry greeted, rubbing his eyes blearily, "Why are you up so early?"

"I don't know, actually," Shikamaru sighed, "I thought I was late cause everyone else in the room was gone. And I could've slept longer . . . "

The last part he muttered quietly, making a face as he did. Harry sweat dropped before saying, "Oh, I see. Want to go grab something to eat? The house elves make great food."

"Sure, I was trying to find the kitchen, anyway," Shikamaru sighed. Although he was glad that Harry was, at least, protected now, he didn't like the fact that the other three kept abandoning their mission.

Laughing slightly, Harry started walking down the hall, beckoning for Shikamaru to follow.

"It's not that easy to find the kitchen here," Harry commented, "Ron and I only found it when Hermione and then the twins told us."

Narrowing his eyes slightly, Shikamaru asked, "And how did they know?"

"Well, Hermione is naturally smart and figured it out on her own, but the twins found it with the Marauder's Map — oops," Harry covered his mouth quickly, mentally berating himself for forgetting.

"Oh . . . ?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow, his fingers playing with some of the bracelets on his right hand, "And what is this Marauder's Map. Is it something . . . illegal?"

"No, no, nothing of the like," Harry mumbled nervously, "It's just something the twins found . . . Oh Look, we're here!"

Distracted, Shikamaru let his mind wander off the topic. He was confused as they stopped in front of a large painting of a bowl of fruit. There was nothing special about it, except for a slight increase in chakra around the area.

"This looks like nothing special," Shikamaru commented, a bored look appearing on his face.

"I thought the same thing, too, when I first saw it, but look," Harry reached up and tickled the huge green pear. It began to squirm, chuckling, and suddenly turning into a large green door handle. Harry took it and pulled, opening it easily.

Inside was a massive room with mounds of pots and pans hanging from the ceiling and a steady fire right next to them. Suddenly, a blurred figure leapt at Harry. It was just an inch away before Shikamaru seized it easily and dangled it by the scruff of its neck in front of him.

"Who are you, and why did you jump at Harry-san?" Shikamaru demanded, glaring at its big green eyes.

When Shikamaru took another look, he saw the resemblance it had to a goblin, but that didn't make sense since goblins worked at Gringotts. Besides goblins wore decent clothes . . . this one definitely had a worse sense of fashion than Naruto and Lee combined.

"Eeee," the thing cried, large tears forming in its eyes, "Dobby wasn't going to do anything, sir! Dobby just wanted to express Dobby's glee that Harry Potter has come again, just like Harry Potter promised, sir!"

Looking at him through one eye, he glanced at Harry for confirmation.

Harry, on the other hand, was still stunned at how fast the other boy had grabbed Dobby. He himself couldn't even see him. And now, he was holding him with one arm, even though Dobby is little, he can't be that light . . .

Then he felt Shikamaru' glance and nodded slightly.

"Dobby's an old acquaintance of mine, he works here in the kitchen," Harry explained.

Shikamaru shrugged and dropped Dobby lightly on the floor. "I'm sorry, I thought you were going to attack."

"Oh, it's not your fault, sir. Dobby was probably too rash, I'm sorry, sir," Dobby apologized, bowing his head.

"Please stop calling me sir," Shikamaru complained, "It makes me feel like my dad . . . " Then he shuddered, "My name is Shikamaru."

"Yes Shikamaru, sir," Dobby replied.

Shikamaru sighed, as Harry started to speak, "It's nice to see you again, Dobby. Would you mind getting us some breakfast to eat?"

Suddenly five other house elves appeared, each holding a tray that contained one of the basic parts of a healthy breakfast such as toast, egg, sausage, milk and orange juice.

" There's more of these things . . . " Shikamaru sighed, knowing that he would get a headache later on.

"Yeah, they're called house elves," Harry told him, grabbing a piece of toast, "They take care of the sanitation and food. They're the ones that make the food appear on the tables in the Great Hall."

Shikamaru whistled, "These little things? You wizards are too weird for me. Why don't you just make the food yourself?" Then he started mumbling, "That's what we did in the village, but I prefer this way better."

Harry was confused. The boy had just said, 'you wizards,' but wasn't he a wizard himself? He had to be if he was allowed to attend Hogwarts. Were the other boys like him? Everything about the new students confused him. And confusing things were annoying.

Harry's emerald eyes darkened as he decided to try and find out more stuff about the new students.

* * *

Moments later, the two boys walked out of the kitchen, their arms full of food.

The house elves had been too generous when they asked for seconds.

"By the way, Harry-san . . . "

"You can call me Harry."

"Ok, Harry," Shikamaru began again, "I'd advise you not to tell Naruto about the kitchen . . . He has a rather . . . hearty . . . appetite when it comes to food. He might even manage to eat all the food here."

"You're not kidding?" Shikamaru shook his head, causing Harry to blink, "Wow . . . "

"Yea."

Harry laughed out loudas Shikamaru glanced at his watch, "It's almost time for first period."

"How are you able to wear a watch?" Harry asked, "Hogwarts doesn't allow muggle electronics to be used inside the school. And yours is a sports watch, too."

"...I dunno," Shikamaru stated, glancing at his watch, "I got it from a friend, I guess it's special."

He didn't look like he was lying so Harry believed him. Still a little confused, he led him to the Great Hall.

As they walked in, they noticed that the place was even louder than usual. Most of the commotion was at the Gryffindor table, so they continued their path.

They were close when they heard, "Where's he, I know he did this to my cat!"

"C-calm down, Mr. Finch. I'm sure Harry didn't do this . . . We haven't seen him all morning!"

That was Neville's voice, Harry recognized. He didn't understand what was happening.

Pushing through the crowd, he and Shikamaru reached the center to find that Filch was holding a tawny cat in his arms. It was old and lying on its side, seemingly dead.

Suddenly, Filch's eyes turned on Harry. With one hand, he grabbed Harry by the robes and pulled him up to his face, staring at him, eye to eye.

"M-Mr. Filch," Harry looked scared, then determined, "Put me down!"

"No, boy," Mr. Filch was angry, you can easily tell with his red eyes, "I know you did this to poor Mrs. Norris. You did it four years ago and it didn't work, I bet you were trying to see if you can do it again!"

"Wh-what are you talking about!" Harry exclaimed, he clawed at the hand holding him up, fighting to breath.

All of a sudden, he dropped ungracefully to the floor, landing on his side. When he looked up, he saw that Shikamaru was in a fighting stance and that Filch was holding his stomach in pain.

It seemed like Shikamaru had kicked the older man — hard enough for him to drop Harry.

"I will not allow you to hurt Harry," Shikamaru stated, his eyes bizarrely cold, "Even if you are a staff member."

Filch gritted his teeth, placed Mrs. Norris carefully on the floor and then charged at Shikamaru like a bull. The younger didn't look worried at all, gracefully dodging to the side and then kicking Filch in the back, making him sprawl to the ground.

"What is going on here!" A female voice yelled out, obviously angry. Professor McGonagall stood in front of them, making the other students scatter.

"Just one day since you've entered this school and there's trouble already!" McGonagall scolded, "And you, Mr. Filch, you know better than to be fighting with a student, and with muggle techniques too! I want to see all of you in my office at lunch, you hear. And if you're not there, I'll either lower your House Points or cut your pay, understand!"

"Yes, Professor," they all answered as McGonagall stormed off.

Mr. Filch cast one more look at Harry and Shikamaru before picking up his cat and leaving.

"Damn!" Seamus exclaimed, "What was that, it was like 'dodge, pow, pow, pow!'"

"Yea, I know!" (Jordan) Lee joined, "That was so cool, how did you do it!"

All of them crowded around the two boys, one looking stunned while the other was twitching slightly as everyone else kept asking questions.

"It's called taijutsu!" Shikamaru finally yelled, tired of the attention. He didn't understand how the others could stand, "Now stop asking me and tell me why that guy started to attack Harry!"

"Yeah," Harry murmured, "I would like to know, too."

The table suddenly became quiet, then Neville spoke up, "I don't know, Harry. He just came up to the table and demanded to know where you were. I think it had something to do with Mrs. Norris. I think it died."

"And good riddance, too," someone else mumbled,

"So he thought I did it and attacked me?" Harry asked.

"It must be," Shikamaru cut in, "And has anyone seen my friends?"

As they asked around, it seemed like no one knew, and they also couldn't find Hermione and Ron, too.

"Come on, Shikamaru," Harry called, "They're old enough to take care of themselves, we've got to get to Divination."

Deciding that it was too troublesome to worry, Shikamaru shrugged and followed the younger boy.

They followed the stream of students as everyone headed to their first period class. They were in the middle, jostled around by everyone else. When they finally got free, they trudged up several flights of stairs. It was a bother to Shikamaru as he voiced his complaints.

Harry, on the other hand, laughed as Shikamaru went through a string of curses, "You tired already?"

"No."

As he heard the answer, Harry glanced over and saw that Shikamaru wasn't even panting, as he was, just annoyed.

Harry laughed, "Well, you're going to have to do this nearly every day. It's a pain going up the North Tower, but you'll see it's bigger pain with Professor Trelawney as teacher. She's nothing but a load of bull, but it's easy to pass her class — just make up the worst possible death or experience for yourself and she'll believe you."

Shikamaru visibly grimaced as they reached the silver ladder, "Would she notice if I sleep." It was more of a statement then a question.

"Yeah, we tried that before," Harry replied, "I got detention with Snape for it — it's not fun."

Shikamaru didn't say anything as he went up the ladder, expecting the worse. As he saw the room, he struggled to breathe as the heavy smell of perfume clouded his senses. Getting annoyed at everything he saw, he picked a seat in the far back. It seemed like many others had the same idea as him 'cause the far most tables were packed.

Only two girls sat near the front, two of whom he recognized because of their constant annoyance to him since the banquet.

"Shikamaru, Harry! Here!" Naruto, Ron and the others were already there. The two boys walked back to meet them.

When they reached the table they sat down, the chairs were soft, uncomfortably so, as Shikamaru found himself slightly sinking down. On the table was a clear crystal ball and two piles of tarot cards. Everything was designed to make you feel fidgety.

"Where were you guys" Shikamaru asked.

"We just went for a walk," Naruto stated, grinning all too brightly.

"No, for real, where'd you go?" the older boy was getting annoyed, he needed his sleep and he wasn't able to get it because of them.

"Ok, ok," Naruto pouted, "I went to get a glass of water when I saw Ron leaving, so I decided to follow."

The said redhead was currently sleeping on the table, drool going onto the table cloth.

"And then these two," Naruto gestured at Neji and Sasuke, "followed me. So we all followed Ron and saw that he was holding an old broom and case. We reached this big field and he let this black ball free. It started flying all over the place and he hopped onto his broom and started flying! It was so cool, Shika, you should've seen it!"

Shikamaru lazily nodded in response before Naruto continued his story, "So then, he flew in front of these three gold hoops, right? So the black ball goes after him.."

"Bludger," Harry interrupted.

"And it... what?" Naruto was confused, staring at Harry.

"The black's called a bludger," Harry explained, "it's used for quidditch."

"Oh! Ok! The bludger goes flying at his head and he hits it with this bat. Then the ball zips around after being hit and tries for him the hoops again, only this time it went right to left really quickly and aims for the right one, Ron gets it and he kept doing this for a really long time!"

"Then Sasuke was snoring! And Ron," Naruto was interrupted once again.

"I was not!" Sasuke glared at the blond, "I was just... breathing really loud."

"Yes, you were!" Naruto glared back at Sasuke, folding his arms and sticking his lower lip out at the same time, making him look cute rather then intimidating, "You heard, too, right Neji!"

"Yep," Neji chimed his agreement.

"See! Now stop interrupting my story!" Naruto waited for an argument and was content when there was none, "So... oh yeah, Sasuke snored so loud, Ron heard him and he stopped the ball and flew down to us! I asked him if I could fly right so I jumped onto the broom with him, 'cept he kicked me off! So mean. But he showed us where the other brooms were and me and Neji went to get them. We left Sasuke sleeping."

"I nearly fell the first time! But then Ron explained it to me and I got it so fast! 'Cept Neji got it faster. Then Ron told us to try and aim the red balls into the gold hoops and we did, but he caught every single one. Then we went faster! It was so fun, going so fast, and I got one goal in before this scary lady saw us. We put the brooms back and ran away, we nearly forgot Sasuke but I went back and got him!"

"Sounds fun..." Shikamaru said dryly.

"Ron must've been practicing as keeper," Harry commented, "It's good he's getting better."

"Quidditch sounds like so much fun!" Naruto squealed, "I want to join the team!"

"Dobe, you can't just say you want to join and expect to get in," Sasuke retorted.

"I know that!" Naruto argued.

"But you can try out, I'll tell you when we're going to start the quidditch season," said Harry.

Before Naruto could express his joy, a cloud of purple smoke and strong perfume came from the front of the room.

"Oh great, Professor Trelawney is here," Harry muttered, shaking his friend up. Ron rubbed his eyes and nearly choked as the strong smell clouded his senses.

"Hello, class," Trelawney called out, her voice low, like the hum of an annoying insect, "It's time for divination. The only class where your minds are free to wander! Now, we're going to be looking into the crystal balls today."

Shikamaru cut her off as he yawned loudly. She glared at him as the two girls followed, but their glares turned dreamy as they saw who the offender was. Professor Trelawney, however, did not think so lightly of his rude interruption.

"Mr. Nara," she said sweetly, "because you already seem bored of my class, why don't you come up here and let me read your fortune. You'll be the lucky one who gets a true prediction from me."

"Fine," Shikamaru slowly got up, "But does that mean that I don't have to do anything for the rest of the class?"

"No," Professor Trelawney snapped.

Shikamaru gave a pissed look before sitting down in front of the teacher.

In the back of the room, Ron whispered to Neji.

"What's she trying to pull now?" he asked.

"I think she wants to humiliate Shika or something," Neji responded, glancing down at the teacher as her crystal ball became clouded and she turned cross-eyed.

"Whatever it is, Shika's not dumb enough to fall for it," Neji added, "He's too smart."

"Really?" Ron was surprised, to him, Shikamaru didn't look at all smart, just another lazy, yet mysterious, guy.

"Yeah, it really doesn't look like it, but he's smart, I'll give him that," said Neji. He put his head down as the professor suddenly gasped.

"Love, my dear," she started, eyes closed as her arms are spread out wide, "Love will come to you soon, in the form of a beautiful, yet cunningly smart, girl. And oh! What do I see, it seems like she's in this room... and very close to you! Oh dear..."

Then Trelawney opened her eyes and winked at Parvati and Lavender before looking back at Shikamaru. She gave him an innocent smile that seemed like she was happy for him, in return he gave her a coy smile.

All of a sudden, a laugh erupted from the back of the room, Naruto was on the floor laughing his butt off.

Trelawney raised an eyebrow, "And what, may I say, is so funny?"

Shikamaru interrupted, "I have a girlfriend already and she's not the most polite girl when she gets angry. If she finds out that I have a lover here, while I don't have to worry, the girl who's supposed to be this lover, might end up missing a few body parts.(1)"

"Thank you for that fortune," Shikamaru sneered, "It is very helpful."

Professor Trelawney reddened slightly before flapping her hands and telling the class to start their work.

In the back, Ron clapped Shikamaru on the back. They continued to talk and pretended to look into the crystal balls, predicting the worst possible scenarios and laughing throughout the class. To Ron and Harry, it was the best divination class they ever had.

* * *

The following classes weren't as eventful as the shinobi struggled with their sticks. Everyone other than Harry only received theirs after Divination as Professor McGonagall found them and handed the three of them elegant boxes.

She also told them that Filch was sorry since he realized that Mrs. Norris only had a stomach virus and that she hadn't died.(2)

When Naruto frowned and asked why he hadn't come and apologized himself, she told him that it was because Filch wasn't that kind of man and he'd come and say it when he worked up the courage.

They're currently eating lunch in their common room. Both Harry and Shikamaru had left their excess food in their rooms and left for breakfast in the morning, leaving plenty of food for them to eat now.

"Where are you guys from anyway?" Ron asked, his mouth full of food.

"Yeah, you have great physique and some of the things you guys do are just amazing," agreed Harry.

"We come from Japan," Shikamaru answered, "In our village, it's natural to know how to fight."

"Really?" Ron exclaimed, "My mum wouldn't even let me near a blade, she thinks I'm going to hurt myself."

"It's not really about blades..." Shikamaru started, "It's actually more like martial arts when you look at it."

"Kakashi's gonna start teaching us martial arts in the DADA class," Naruto added.

"That's our next class," Hermione chimed.

"Where did you come from!" Ron exclaimed. She had just popped up, startling him. Hermione was smiling brightly as she lifted up a stack of books.

"I just came from the library," She explained, "Professor McGonagall let me get the first half of the day off, I just have to get all the class work I missed and finish the assignments due."

"I'll let you copy," said Harry, rummaging through his bag.

"Thanks," Hermione sat in-between Harry and Ron on the couch. Shikamaru had stretched himself across a chair and was watching them now. Sasuke has his eyes closed as he is sitting comfortably other chair. Both Naruto and Neji are on the floor with their backs against the couch. Neji seems to have fallen asleep while Naruto talked with Harry and Ron.

Hermione took a piece of pumpkin pie before observing the four boys. There was a comfortable silence in the room, with the occasional chewing sound letting out.

To her, the boys were obviously beautiful, or handsome, whichever they liked. Yet they seemed to be hiding something.

It wasn't that obvious, but you can sometimes see a constant twitching of their hands when they were together with the three of them. They also seemed to be more observant than most would, like the time they had found the device that had shut Sirius' mother up. Yet, they were friendly and trustworthy enough.

Whenever she was with them, she would get a comfortable feeling that made her feel safe. She didn't know if it was their tall stature or their personality, but she liked the feeling.

"'Mione," Ron shook her, "it's time for class."

"Oh, ok," Hermione shook herself out of her stupor and grabbed her bag, following the boys down the stairs.

They started chatting animatedly, even Sasuke joined, letting out an occasional smile.

They arrived in front of their DADA room to find a large crowd standing outside.

"What's going on?" Harry asked.

"The teacher isn't here yet," Neville answered, "We can't get in."

"Yeah... We forgot to mention that Kakashi can be a little late sometimes," Naruto stated, rubbing the back of his head, "It's an annoying habit of his. Can we get the door open without him?"

"No, he is the only one with the spell," Hermione answered, "I could've done it already if I could."

"Move out of the way, puss-pats!" a voice shouted, "I need to get to the door."

Their group turned around to find the source of the voice, it was Malfoy and a whole gang of Slytherins.

"What are you doing here, Malfoy?" Ron sneered, "We don't have class with you."

"Well, now you do," Malfoy stated, "Our schedules changed. Instead of having a free period now, we have to have this stupid class."

"Whose class are you calling stupid?" a male voice asked?"

"This muggle's..." Malfoy turned around to yell at the person, only to find Kakashi standing there, leaning against the frame of his now open door.

"Oh, really?" Kakashi looked bemused, "How about you go first in our activity today, then we'll see if this class is at all stupid."

"Fine," Malfoy sneered.

Kakashi gave him a coy smile under his mask before moving into the room, beckoning everyone to do the same.

The chairs and tables were gone, instead, the whole floor was covered in straw mats. The only furniture in the room were two chests that sat in the opposite corner.

"Everyone, find a seat along the wall, spread yourselves out pretty evenly," Kakashi ordered, sitting opposite of the door, " And don't block the door or sit close to it, you might get hit when it opens."

The room was subtly divided in half, Slytherins on one side of Kakashi and Gryffindors on the other.

"In this class, I'll be teaching you how to fight without a wand," Kakashi started.

"That's like muggle fighting then!" Malfoy exclaimed. Many others agreed, voicing their opinion.

Kakashi just looked bored as they continued, finally annoyed, he told them to shut up, "It is muggle fighting— don't say anything— but, it does have its advantages when you find yourself without a wand and in trouble. Has that ever happened to anyone?"

Harry raised his hand, soon nearly half the class did.

"Exactly," Kakashi continued, "So Dumbledore allowed me to teach you how to fight without a wand, that way, you have something to back you up when that happens. We'll only be learning the basics this semester, you bunch of losers are too weak for anything else."

They were about to protest when Kakashi silenced them with a hand.

"Today, I'll be testing you to see if you have any chance at learning martial arts," Kakashi informed them before coyly looking at Malfoy, "And cause this young boy was nice enough to volunteer, he'll go first. Sasuke, how 'bout you evaluate him?"

"Fine," Sasuke's face was emotionless as he walked up to the middle of the room, Malfoy was already there. Many girls squealed at having the chance to see their hottie fight.

"Malfoy," Kakashi addressed, "you can use anything you want against Sasuke. Your target is to be able to draw blood. Sasuke, your target is to not get hurt, understand? Do not attack."

Sasuke nodded as Malfoy smirked. The blond was expecting to win, laughing at their teacher's stupidity for giving him an opportunity to hurt the other boy.

"You're in for a world of pain, pretty boy," Malfoy sneered, taking his wand out, "I hope I don't mess your face up too much."

Sasuke just smirked, he felt the barrier go up around them and got into a fighting stance. He agreed that Malfoy was strong magically, but only on the level he was when he was a genin, which was long before.

"Start!"

Sasuke tensed as his muscles coiled, ready to dodge at anytime. Malfoy yelled out a word Sasuke didn't understand, suddenly a beam of red light shot from the blond's wand. Sasuke dodged easily and waited for next attack.

When Malfoy saw that the taller boy had dodged, he shot his attack again. Sasuke continued dodging with ease as Malfoy gritted his teeth. Malfoy kept trying, to no luck.

Bored, Sasuke dodged the now green beams and ran quickly up to Malfoy who was surprised to see him gone. Sasuke took the wand from the other's outstretched hand and flipped gracefully over him, landing a few feet away.

He faced Malfoy's back as the blond realized that his wand was missing, turning quickly, the shorter of the two charged.

Sasuke sighed softly and held the boy back with a finger to the forehead before pinning him down completely and sitting on his back. The barriers fell as the match ended.

"Now, you see how it is much better if you knew martial arts," Kakashi explained. He knew that these pampered wizards were weak, yet he hadn't expected them to be like this. But the match was longer than he expected, it seemed like Sasuke prolonged it to provoke the other boy.

"Get off me!" Malfoy yelled, humiliation evident on his face, "No one does this to a Malfoy! No one! You'll pay for this!"

His screams were muffles as Sasuke placed a foot on his head, pressing it into the floor.

"Sasuke! You're hurting him!" Naruto suddenly yelled, pushing Sasuke off the blonde, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I don't need _your_ help," Malfoy muttered, getting up slowly. Crabbe and Goyle rushing to his aid who he brushed off roughly, trying to gain some dignity back.

"What does that mean!" Naruto huffed, "I was just trying to help!"

"Well, you're not," Malfoy said as he walked over to his side of the room.

Naruto pouted and walked back to his seat with Sasuke, who was shading his eyes. Kakashi called others to the floor as he tested their skill. Sasuke ignored them as he focused on Naruto.

He didn't understand why the other boy had rushed to help the blond. Wasn't he the victor? Shouldn't he get the attention? Sasuke really felt like slugging the next person who talked to him.

It was just so frustrating, he wanted Naruto to notice him, yet whenever he tried, it just wouldn't work.

He felt a warm presence sitting down next to him. Glaring, he saw that it was Neji.

"What do you want?" he asked.

"I dunno, really," Neji answered, his eyes on the match before him, "But a shinobi has no emotion remember. If you let that affect you, you won't be able to protect Harry-san."

"I know that," Sasuke interrupted, "I don't need to hear that from you."

"Don't get mad," Neji stated, "It's just that Naruto tends to help the underdog. That's how he is. It doesn't mean that he likes Malfoy more than you."

"...How do you know how I feel," Sasuke asked, looking at the older boy.

"Cause I sometimes feel the same way, but I realized that this is just how fate made Naruto to be," Neji explained, "But it doesn't mean I'm going to let you have Naruto."

"Exactly what I'm thinking," Sasuke smirked.

The tension between them lessened a little as they understood each other, yet the other was the one standing in their way for Naruto's heart.

* * *

(1) I dunno if I should choose Ino or Temari. This way, it's which ever you want.

(2) I'm gonna make sumdin happen. Not tat soon, but expect it 2 b connected 2 Flich's attack n Mrs. Norris' 'death'

I had 2 stop there...I can't think anymore. And I h8 tat last part...itz so... ick! And I luv my beta, Akki no Tama. Cause she's so patient w/ my slow updating

And thnx 2:

**Destiny's Dragon**

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4 reviewin' n thnx 2 all the past reviewers 2, cause I couldn't rite every1's... I 333 u!

Buh-bye 33


	5. Scouting

**The Ultimate Defense**

I'm sorry for not updating. I've got this lil' summer job &whatnot &before I was just either too busy or too lazy to write. Sorry but enjoy ;

Disclaimer: hp;jkr.n;mk

xoxoxoxoxoxo

Chapter 5: Spying

"Time for dinner!" Naruto exclaimed, running into the dining hall. Soon after, the whole student body came in, bringing noise and life into the room.

"Couldn't you have waited for the rest of us, dobe?" Sasuke asked, finally making his way out of the crowd.

"You guys were too slow!" Naruto exclaimed. " And I'm hungry!"

Shaking his head, Sasuke sat down next to the blond. The rest of the gang soon appeared and joined them. However, as Neji was walking to the table, Kakashi passed by and slipped a note into his hand.

Neji gave him a slight nod before calling out to Shikamaru about an argument they had. As he got Shikamaru's attention, he signaled for them to meet in Kakashi's room after dinner. Shikamaru nodded and they continued on with the conversation.

As most of the students were in their seats, Dumbledore stood up and cleared his throat for attention.

"Students, staff members, I am excited for this new year in Hogwarts. Our rules are the same, you cannot go into the Forest of Death. However, I know that many of you heard about Voldemort and the many problems that are brought up with his resurrection. I just want you to know that you will be perfectly safe within the castle walls. If an attack occurs, however, please, come back to the castle as fast as possible and we will have a trained and trusted staff to protect you. This is a safety procedure, do not worry, your lives are in capable hands. If you have any questions, please ask your Head Girl or Boy. Thank you, you can eat now."

The food appeared and most of the students forgot about Dumbledore's speech. However, the shinobi, who were still a bit confused about the Voldemort subject, had many questions for their fellow classmates.

"I don't understand; why is this... Voldemort feared by so many people?" Neji asked.

"What! You don't know! Where have you been?" Ron exclaimed, "He- who- must — V-voldemort was the one who destroyed the wizarding society about a decade and a half ago. Everyone lived in fear of his name. No one thought he could be defeated until Harry somehow destroyed most of his powers as Voldemort was trying to kill him. Now he's back and stronger than ever. Where have you _been!_ "

"...You don't have to get so wound up over it..." Shikamaru commented dryly. "We understand what you're talking about — more so than maybe yourself. There was a man like him in our village and it was hard for us to defeat him. But, we never gave up and it worked out in the end. You guys are so scared of this guy and you aren't doing anything to make yourself stronger."

"Maybe that's true," Hermione countered, "But we grew up with a different lifestyle than you. It is harder for us to cope after getting used to so many years of peace."

"Don't argue about what is right or wrong," Naruto interrupted, "Different people think in different ways. One way may not be the best, try all the choices. C'mon— let's eat!"

They decided that arguing about morals would just bring more trouble so they followed Naruto's advice and forgot about their argument. Soon the ceiling began to dim and the students started filing out. Hermione, Harry and Ron also started to leave but looked back to find that the shinobi hadn't followed.

"You guys coming?" Harry asked softly.

"Not yet, we have to talk with Ka— Professor Hatake about certain things," Naruto told them, "We'll come soon."

"Alright, we'll wait in the common room," Hermione said.

The four boys nodded and the three wizards left, leaving them alone.

"Ok, now where is Kakashi's room?" Naruto asked.

"He gave me a map before," Neji answered, taking a piece of parchment out of his bag. "He told me that he scouted the castle out yesterday and wants us to check it for more detail."

They nodded and looked at the map, Kakashi's room was located in the South Tower. They all checked for chakra signs and after finding none, they performed the seals to teleport and disappeared in a small whirl of dust.

Kakashi was alert as his four comrades appeared in the room.

"Yo," he greeted them.

They all took comfortable seats around the room — on the bed, the chairs, the rugs — Kakashi definitely had a better room than they did.

"What are we here for?" Shikamaru asked.

"I just wanted to keep you on alert," Kakashi announced. "Nothing seems to be going on right now and Voldemorte is in one of his quieter phases. But that also means he might be planning something big for later on."

"Yeah," Naruto agreed, "It does seem weird, but we've only been in England for a few weeks."

"I don't like waiting here," Sasuke commented, "It makes me uneasy, not knowing when the enemy will attack and not knowing their strategies beforehand. Why can't we just find this Voldemorte and kill him?"

"Because this is a mission to protect— not to assassinate, Sasuke," Kakashi said sternly. "Anyway, I want you to lay some traps around, and in, Harry's room. Subtle ones so that he and his room mates won't notice. Nothing much, just something that will alert you if someone with a harmful intention goes into the room. And just some scooping around the school at night. Go in groups of two and check for good hiding place and escape routes."

"That's easy enough," Shikamaru stated. "How about Sasuke and Neji take every other night starting Monday and Naruto and I will take the other ones. Is it okay if you take the Sunday shift, Kakashi?"

"No problem," Kakashi replied, reading while leaning against the wall and waved for his 'students' to leave.

They teleported out of the room, this time without any sound and reappeared in their own. Shikamaru fell upon his bed just as Naruto lit a small fire in the fireplace. Sasuke and Neji disappeared into the bathroom and reappeared, fully dressed in their anbu armor. As Neji tied his bird-like mask on, Shikamaru reached into the drawer next to his bed and threw another bird-like mask behind him. Sasuke caught it and tied it on in one fluid motion. In the place where Sasuke and Neji were, now stood two trained ninja, ready for anything that came their way.

"We won't wait up, k'?" Naruto informed them, yawning as he donned his walrus-like sleeping cap and walked into the bathroom while rubbing his eyes. Behind their masks, the two ninjas' expressions softened before they nodded once at Shikamaru and disappeared. They reappeared at opposite ends of the castle.

"I'm on the 2nd floor, over," Sasuke said, blending into the shadows.

"Got it, I'm going up to the 3rd," Neji responded, jumping up a flight a stairs as it started off in another direction. "Watch for the paintings."

"We need to talk to the headmaster about them," Sasuke noted, layering a 3-part wire trap within the vault of the ceiling. Suddenly a white figure turned into the hallway as Sasuke quickly crouched within the shadows once again.

"Gotta do something about that damn ghost, too," Sasuke hissed, ready to throw a kunai at the poltergeist if it made any more noise throwing mini firecrackers around the hall. Too bad he couldn't kill it as it was dead already.

"Which one?" Neji asked as he went to add another window trap.

"Peeves..." Sasuke jumped down as the ghost turned the corner and started off for the main hall.

"Agreed," Neji replied as he jumped down from his window perch, landing in the hallway and scanning the shadows, "There's a lot of places you can hide in on this landing. I'll mark them down tomorrow. It's kind of useless though, this place is shrouded in shadows, only an idiot wouldn't be able to hide."

"Like Naruto?" Sasuke asked.

"Naruto's gotten smarter, he can probably find them," Neji said, smirking under his mask.

"Let's hope so. I'm finished with the 2nd floor and I'm going down," Sasuke stated, jumping down from the banister onto a statue near the front entrance.

"I'm going up to the towers, we'll leave the rest to Shikamaru and Naruto," Neji responded, crawling out of a window and running up the side.

"Do some of the bigger windows on the top landing, too," Sasuke said, "I'll do Potter's room when I'm done here."

"Sure," Neji landed on the Astronomy Tower, grimacing as he saw the mess the students left behind.

Soon after, they both transported back into their room. Nodding at each other, they went off to do their separate things before falling onto the bed. They both did, however, while the other was in the bathroom, kiss Naruto on the cheek.

The clock struck two and in the midst of the night, nearly unheard through Naruto's snores, were two quiet "good nights."

**End chapter**

It's really short for what I usually write but I just wanted to get something out. I was planning something but I seriously forgot so I gotta wing it 'til I remember. &my internet's got problems so all's not well. Anyway, hope you enjoyed it. Please review because you know... it makes me happy so I can write & people can read, I guess xD


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